Sky Blues keep Chianese with one-year deal

Sydney FC are showing no signs of slowing down their recruitment drive, having re-signed striker Joel Chianese on Monday morning on a one-year deal.

The 23 year-old made a name for himself last season by bagging six goals in just nine appearance but he has had a frustrating campaign with the Sky Blues and has been limited to just six appearances due to injury. He will be given another chance to prove himself under the tenure of Frank Farina after agreeing terms to a new one-year deal early on Monday morning.

Chianese has returned to full fitness and has been used a substitute in the club's last two home wins against Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar. His new deal comes just two days after Sydney signed Socceroos captain Lucas Neill for the remainder of the season.

The striker was coming off contract and rival clubs had signalled their interest in signing him. However, Sydney maintained a regular line of communication regarding a contract extension and Chianese had no hesitation in re-signing when the offer eventually arrived.

"With every player there's always opportunities out there but for me the club approached me pretty quickly. They let me know their intentions of keeping me here, they had faith in me, they obviously said to me they know what I can do on the park so for me it wasn't really a tough decision."

Sydney FC also in the final stages of negotiations with Alessandro Del Piero's agent over securing the Italian great for another season. His agent and brother, Stefano, arrived in Sydney at the end of last week to finalise a one-year contract extension and held talks with chief executive Tony Pignata over the weekend.

"It keeps getting bigger and bigger," Chianese said. "We have Alessandro, one of the legends of the game and now we have the Australian captain, it's great. The type of people they are, they don't think they're better than anybody else so it's great to have those guys in."